The present invention relates to the lighting of the inside of a toilet bowl and the immediate environs thereof without the necessity of activating the overhead room lights by means of a wall switch or other switching means.
Adults who require the need to use a toilet in the middle of the night often find that the switching on of room lighting irritates one's eyes that have become accustomed to the dark and creates temporary disorientation. Extinguishing the room lighting afterward also creates another disorientation while the eyes gradually become reacclimated to the darkness.
Additionally, adults with small children who are incapable of reaching the wall switch, often find that they are awakened in the middle of the night by the child in order to accompany the child to the toilet because of the child's inability to reach the wall switch. The same disorientation is present for child and adult.
The present invention provides a novel toilet bowl light that is operable in any of several modes: it may be operable 24 hours a day; it may be operable during darkness only by means of a light-sensitive switch; or it may be operable by means of a manually-operative switch. Leakage of light from the toilet bowl, even through the space beneath the toilet seat and the toilet lid, serves as a guide for one with darkness-acclimated eyes to find the toilet in an otherwise totally dark environment, whether the toilet seat and lid are raised or lowered. The low light level does not create eye irritation and disorientation to darkness-acclimated eyes but provides sufficient light to see the bowl and its immediate environs. At such low light levels, the eyes do not become light-acclimated to the extent room lighting would produce, so that return to bed in the darkness is less dangerous.
Prior art uncovered in the U.S. patent literature under Patent Office classification numbers 4/661, 362/190, and 362/191 include three toilet light units, none of which are seen to anticipate or make obvious the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,364, issued to Bittaker et al in 1983, teaches a battery-operated light to be adhesively mounted on a toilet bowl at a location between the hinge mounts and features a mercury switch on the underside of the toilet seat to turn on the light only when the seat is raised. In contrast, the present invention offers guidance to the user without lifting the toilet seat and is installed without attachment or mounting to the seat or to the lid, and thereby provides both greater ease in installing and portability. The present invention could even be used while staying overnight while traveling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,471, issued to Johnson in 1988, teaches a battery-powered light that mounts on the underside of the toilet lid and operates by means of a mercury switch when the lid is raised. In contrast, the present invention offers guidance to the user without lifting the toilet lid and is installed without attachment or mounting to the seat or to the lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,178, issued to Picon in 1989, teache a battery operated light that mounts on the underside of the toilet seat with the lamp positioned to be within the rim of the toilet bowl when the seat is down. Included in the teachings of this patent is a manual switch as well as an automatic gravity-operated switch. In contrast, the present invention is installed without attachment or mounting to the seat or to the lid.